Work · Latin American & Caribbean Philosophy
General History of Peru (Royal Commentaries, Part Two)
The conquest and the civil wars among the Spaniards, up to the execution of Túpac Amaru in 1572 – published a year after the author’s death.
Introduction
The second part of the Royal Commentaries was printed in Córdoba in 1617, a year after Garcilaso’s death, under the title General History of Peru. Its eight books narrate the arrival of the Spaniards, the capture and execution of Atahualpa, the wars among the conquistadors and the rebellions against the New Laws of 1542, ending with the execution of Túpac Amaru in Cusco in 1572. Garcilaso writes as the son of a conquistador and of an Inca noblewoman and tries to do justice to both sides; he defends his father’s conduct at the battle of Huarina and judges the viceroy Francisco de Toledo harshly. Scholars have read his treatment of the New Laws as a position against Bartolomé de las Casas. The book is a main source, and a partisan one, for the civil wars of early colonial Peru.
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- Royal Commentaries of the Incas1609 · Inca Garcilaso de la Vega
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